Australia’s pro-Palestine movement shifts focus to pressuring Albanese to cut ties with Israel

Table of Contents

Pro-Palestine protests in Sydney and Melbourne, which had been held every week since October 7, 2023, will now shift their focus to convincing the federal government to cut ties with Israel, organisers have announced.

a "step forward" for the pro-Palestine movement in Australia, and said the group would now shift from weekly demos to targeted protests calling for specific policy changes from government.

Since Israel invaded Gaza following the 7 October attack, the protests have drawn thousands of people each week and have become one of Australia's longest-running anti-war rallies.

Trump takes the oath as 47th US president as the country readies itself for a changing era of turmoil and fracture.

An agreement to cease hostilities and an agreement to exchange prisoners between Gaza and Israel, including Palestinians being held in custody.

"This is definitely a win for the people of Gaza – and it's a situation Israel didn't want,” Naser said. “We are seeing the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian political prisoners, who've often been held in breach of international rules and guidelines.”

We'll keep on protesting but the regularity and length of those protests will just depend on what's unfoldin' on the ground. Our priority will be gettin' the Australian government to shift its stance on Israel.

The Australian government's stance at the UN shifted, moving from abstaining on a vote about the occupation of Palestinian territories to supporting an end to the Israeli occupation, showing the protests had achieved their goal, said Naser.

• remaining unchanged

“We noticed these significant shifts in Australia's approach at the United Nations, and they're a result of our [PAG] efforts.”

.

Amal Naser

The court said there were good grounds to think that Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes that happened during the war in Gaza.

"We want to see Australia honour these decisions, and to see a commitment to the international court's findings, and to see them agree to arrest leaders who have arrest warrants issued against them," Naser said.

“We want to see politicians living up to international law, but right now we're seeing both sides of the political spectrum trying to keep good relations with Israel. This is a long way from what we should be seeing.”

The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, welcomed the release of the hostages, noting that he hoped the ceasefire agreement would alleviate community tensions.

“Fair dinkum, hostages should've never been taken in the first place and the fact they've been held on for 15 months has dragged out the conflict in the region,” he said on Monday.

“Here's thinkin' also of the remaining hostages, now we've gotta see them all get out safely and that ceasefire deal gettin' in place in full, with more aid goin' into Gaza where people have been through a big rough time, innocent people.”

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has caused over 47,000 fatalities, with 13,319 of those being children, as per local health authorities in the Gaza Strip.

The president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, said he expected the "pro-Palestinian movement" to keep applying pressure on the Australian Government.

He said he wanted Australia to take a more proactive and more forceful stance, a stance it showed with great courage in ending apartheid in South Africa.

We're lookin' for Australia to take action similar to what it did after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and we want it to extend that to the situation with Palestine, mate. And that is, to start discussin' diplomatic measures, like sanctions and divestment, that'll stop our banks, super funds, and investment firms from investin' in things that chokehold and destroy the lives of Palestinians.

He reckons the Palestinian issue will be a talking point during the Australian election.

Fair dinkum, I reckon Palestine will be a right big issue in the election. You can't disregard the situation there no more, and it'll definitely have a ripper of an impact on the next federal poll.